When I was losing my hearing, we had to buy hearing aids and they were incredibly expensive. It was a huge financial situation.
Mandy Harvey
I really hope my music and my life can help encourage people not to give up.
I didn't wake up one day and just couldn't hear. I woke up one day and realized I was having difficulty, and that I had overcompensated by lip reading, so that I didn't really understand how bad it was.
I never thought I would do a TV show, I never thought I could do it, so I was not expecting a really good performance. It was more about building confidence, and good or bad, I was encouraging other people and pushing myself.
I was in Colorado for about 15 years but my family is all from Florida.
Music gives people the ability to dream, to leave their troubles behind for a moment and experience something beautiful. You create dreams and that's a beautiful thing!
With a progressive issue, it was always a monkey that was chasing me down. I had a great fear of losing my hearing. In my gut, I always knew that it was going to happen. I was just hoping that it would happen when I was 50 and not when I was 18.
I'm not a story; I'm a person, and my passion is music. And I want your passion to be my music - so, judge me on my music.
I found my way back into music and realized that it's not that the music went away after losing my hearing, I just get the privilege of enjoying it and experiencing it differently.
I made the mistake of pouring my entire identity into one single dream and convincing myself that I was not capable of anything else or creating any other dream.
I started singing in a choir when I was 4 years old.
Losing my hearing was always my biggest fear, so what's the worst that can happen, sing the wrong notes? Who cares, it's not going to kill you.
I'm not scared to sing songs. I'm not scared to walk out the front door and make a mistake.
I wanted to encourage people around me to evaluate their lives and see where they are holding themselves back. I wanted them to dream again.
I grew up with hearing, so I have a really good understanding of music theory and the structure of music.
I don't live my life based on fear of failure. I live my life with an understanding of failure and I'm embracing it, because every time I fail, I learn something new.
Technology is improving to prevent musicians from losing their hearing while performing on stage... audience members losing their hearing from listening to loud music… people being able to experience music not just with their ears, but with touch or with through their eyes.
My understanding of current music stopped in 2006, so I am continually inspired by music from the past. Three Dog Night, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Herman's Hermits, Association, Eagles, Beatles, Stones, Turtles, Animals... this list goes on forever.
You can feel the drums, and you can feel the bass. So, being able to feel the music through the floor, it makes me feel like I'm a part of the band and not just the only person in the room who doesn't really understand what's going on.
I was always a shy child and slightly hard of hearing, so music was my outlet.
I miss the common things, the things that used to really annoy me, like an alarm clock. The sound of your zipper as your fly is being pulled up so that you know it actually is up. The sound of the door as it closes, to know that it's really shut.
If I take back any of the bumps, bruises or scrapes I've been through. I wouldn't be the same person.
I really wanted to change the idea of what is possible and to show that 'deaf can' and what better place to do that than on national television?
My touring band, they're just brilliant, and all of them are learning ASL, so the wall of communication is breaking.
There have been a couple of times I've started the song in the wrong key. We stop the song, we all laugh together and we start the song again, and we go for it.
I don't need pity. I want to be looked at like a musician, because I am one. I happen to be deaf.
It's just I do things differently and I want people to appreciate music for what it is, and not because of a story.
I grew up listening to the 60's and 70's... storytellers and poets.
I wanted to show that even if you fail, you have the ability to pick yourself up off the floor and try again. I wanted to show a different side of what a disability looks like to highlight all the invisible ones.
I use the aid of technology while running through songs. Visual tuners and feeling the vibrations through the floor to keep time.
There is a lot of technology out there that can help people with hearing loss including wearable technology that vibrates.
I work a lot with dynamics of how loud I'm talking, like speaking into balloons and then feeling the texture on my fingertips, and then I get used to the feeling on my throat.
My feeling of security really went down the tubes when I couldn't hear anymore. When it got dark, I'd get very afraid because I can't hear people coming up behind me.
We need to work on creating a more inclusive music experience. I'm really so frustrated with going to festivals and there not being any closed captioning or interpreters.
I started to play music again because of my dad and my mom. I grew up playing guitar with my dad, and he and my mom encouraged me to start again.
A long time ago I started talking into a balloon so I could feel myself talking, to practice judging volume, and compare it to other musicians.
So I studied a lot with the balloon, and in learning how to sing with other musicians and keep in time - that's all by touch. A lot of that I feel in my body, and growing up with hearing I have pretty good muscle memory, and I was born with near perfect pitch.
TV has been so far outside my comfort zone.
My friends and family refused to give up on me even when I gave up on myself, and I wanted to hopefully encourage even just one person to try again.
The thing I love about music... you can close your eyes and be transported back to a memory or a dream or a feeling.
I am not the performing type. I was the one who would cry, throw up or pass out.
After I lost my hearing, I gave up.
When I'm playing with my band, I designate different parts to feel different things. The bass pounds in your chest when you go to a concert. It almost replaces your heartbeat. Then the drums you feel on the floor.
What I do is I get the sheet music and I put it out for myself and then I use a visual tuner to go through each note individually. And every time I make a mistake, I start the song over again, so I use the muscle memory of intervals and then watching that tuner, and then a lot of repetition.
I started writing music long after I lost my hearing.
I am an ambassador for a nonprofit organization and I love being able to help people crush their barriers. I recently wrote a book. I want to do more with my life and help people do more with their lives, whatever that looks like.
I was a shy child. I had anxiety. I used to cry when I had to give a presentation.
